Access Strategy Team Report

In July 2004, the Library's Budget Implementation Task Force, headed by Paula Kaufman, created the Access Strategy Team (AST) and charged it with (1) setting up teams to implement two digital library software products about to be acquired by the Library and (2) reviewing the Library's existing organizational structure for cataloging and metadata work and making recommendations for a new structure better suited to the evolving digital information environment. The full charge to the AST can be found at this web site: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/accessstrategy/accesscharge.html

AST membership includes Lisa German, Jo Kibbee, Bill Mischo, Michael Norman, Wendy Shelburne, Peggy Steele (chair), David Ward, and John Weible.

The present document serves as a report to Paula Kaufman on the second of the two tasks assigned to AST. It includes an historical overview of the access-related activities in the Library which led up to the creation of AST, followed by AST's proposals for restructuring the Library's cataloging and metadata operations and services.

AST consulted several individuals and groups for advice and comments as we prepared this report. Among those with whom we met are: the Technical Services Division Faculty, the Cataloging Policy Committee, the Electronic Resources Working Group, the Interim Leader of the Digital Content Creation Team, the Head of Digital Services and Development, the Associate University Librarian for Collections, the Associate University Librarian for Services, and the Associate University Librarian for Information Technology Planning and Policy.

The Library's Taskforce on Access to Collections was established by University Librarian Paula Kaufman in April 2001. The Taskforce was charged with making recommendations, both near and long term, for providing access to all of the Library's print and electronic library resources, as well as to information beyond our walls.

The following statements from the Taskforce report, dated 03/19/02, clarify the Taskforce members’ understanding of the term "access".

The Taskforce report also states:

"The challenge for the Library in the years ahead is to re-conceptualize how we use the catalog and/or other access gateways or portals to provide our users with easy and efficient access to all of our materials."

"Resources should be described in appropriate metadata (MARC, EAD, XML) with the appropriate level of granularity for providing effective access."

The Taskforce articulated a set of five goals for the Library along with accompanying recommendations on how to achieve them. Two of these goals focus on metadata per se, and one on technologies that utilize metadata to provide access to information resources.

Goal 1: "Create an integrated information environment by implementing a portal access architecture, multiple database searching, and a variety of linking technologies."

Goal 2: "Improve access to the Library’s physical collection by providing accurate and reliable records, with an appropriate level of metadata, and in a timely manner, for all tangible materials (books, serials, maps, microforms, media, etc.) the Library has acquired."

Goal 3: "Improve access to the Library’s available digital resources by ensuring that these resources have the appropriate type and level of metadata to enable efficient, consistent, and reliable retrieval . . ."

After discussing and accepting the report of the original Access Task Force, the Library subsequently established five working groups to deliberate further on the five goals that were defined by the Task Force and to recommend specific actions for achieving them. Each working group was assigned a specific goal to consider. They were each charged with laying out a plan of action for both the near term and the longer term. The Working Groups presented their reports in May 2003.

Among the recommendations put forth by Working Group 1 were:

Among the recommendations put forth by Working Group 2 were:

Among the recommendations from Working Group 3 were:

Among the recommendations from Working Group 4 were:

Responding to the recommendations from Working Group 1, the Library decided to acquire three digital library products (a federated search system, a link resolver, and a digital objects management system) which will be implemented within the next twelve months. These products are being purchased by ILCSO with consortial funds and will be implemented locally by the Library. The Library’s goal is to make all three systems interoperable in our environment, an outcome which will require considerable local customization and programming on our part. We expect that the resulting implementation will greatly enhance the user’s ability to find and use diverse types of materials in our collections while at the same time providing new ways for librarians and users to work together on resource discovery.

We will now be able to move away from the individual "silo" approach to information access which requires patrons to use multiple systems and interfaces to find out what the library owns (or has access to) on a particular topic. We can design customized portals to bring resources from diverse systems (online catalogs, A & I and full-text databases, local digital collections, etc.) to users through integrated search and discovery interfaces.

The Library created the Access Strategy Team in July 2004 and charged it with setting up teams to implement the federated search and link resolver products. The Federated Search Pilot Project Implementation Team (the "Feds") and the OpenURL Link Resolver Implementation Team ("OLRIT") have subsequently been established and both have begun working on their assigned tasks.

In addition to planning for implementation of the new digital library products, and in response to the recommendations from Working Groups 2 and 3, the Access Strategy Team was also charged with reviewing the Library's existing organizational structure for cataloging and metadata work and making recommendations for a new structure better suited to the rapidly evolving higher education information environment.

Successful utilization of the Library's new digital products, particularly the federated search system and the digital objects management system, requires the establishment of a comprehensive and coordinated Library-wide content access policy, and a corresponding set of content access principles, covering all our collections. (The term "collections" is broadly defined here to include all information resources the Library purchases, licenses, digitizes, creates locally, or selects from the "hidden web", regardless of their physical format or location.) A clearly delineated collections access policy will spell out how each type of information resource can be accessed by users and how it can be integrated into the Library's overall information discovery environment. This will provide a rational and flexible framework on which the Library can build, maintain, and enhance information portals for its user community over time.

A critical component of this content access framework is the underlying technology infrastructure that supports the systems and services we offer to users and enables them to grow and evolve as the nature of Library collections continues to change.

AST recommends that a new working group be established to coordinate planning for integrated content access services across the Library, to oversee the implementation of new and enhanced access and discovery systems, and to collaborate with Library IT on planning a sustainable and flexible technology infrastructure for the near and long term. We propose that this new group be called the Content Access Policy and Technology Group. We suggest the following membership and responsibilities.

Co-Chairs: AUL for Collections, AUL for IT Planning & Policy

B. Cataloging and Metadata Production in the Evolving Information Environment

AST strongly endorses the recommendation from Access Task Force Working Group 3 to consolidate coordination of both MARC cataloging and metadata production in a central content access unit. AST also recommends that responsibility for managing access to the Library’s e-resources be assigned to the same unit. ("E-resources" are defined as commercially-acquired or licensed electronic publications. Some examples are electronic A & I services, full-text journal databases, full-text e-books.)

AST proposes calling the new unit Content Access Management (CAM) and locating it in the Technical Services Division. As envisioned by AST, CAM will function as a coordinating entity to bring all MARC cataloging and metadata production under one umbrella organization regardless of where in the Library these activities are performed.

CAM will replace all former cataloging units in central Technical Services. Unit library cataloging personnel would not be administratively affected by this change. Cataloging faculty in the unit libraries, however, would become members of the OPAC Records Working Group (ORWG) (see pp. 7-8) and would participate, along with their peers in CAM, in establishing cataloging, classification, authority control and holdings policy and principles for the Library's MARC-based collections, within the high level guidelines developed by CAPT.

A key factor in the success of CAM operations will be the development of a flexible cadre of personnel within this unit who can work comfortably in both the MARC cataloging and metadata environments and who can shift gears as needed to assist in meeting the Library's evolving goals for access to information resources of all kinds. Ongoing training and dialog will be critical components of success in this area.

To ensure that the Library's digitization initiatives and the work of CAM are synchronized, the Head of CAM will collaborate with the Head of DSD on the coordination of Library-wide policies, standards, and practices for metadata creation and management. The Head of CAM and the Head of DSD may elect to create a metadata working group to assist in establishing Library-wide policies, standards and practices and to encourage discussion and collaboration among metadata workers throughout the Library.

The Head of CAM and the Head of DSD will work with the University Archives, Rare Books & Special Collections, and other Library units which use (or may in the future) markup languages (e.g., TEI. EAD) to provide access to their materials. Their goal will be to bring the generation of metadata via markup languages into the content access mainstream and to standardize the use of markup languages across the Library. This may entail setting up one or more working groups to bring markup language users together for purposes of establishing Library-wide policies, standards, and practices.

The Head of CAM and the Head of DSD will ensure that training programs are developed for all Library personnel involved in metadata creation. AST envisions that CAM faculty will, in time, acquire the metadata expertise that will enable them to serve as resources for personnel in other Library units which are engaged in digitization initiatives.

AST proposes that the Head of CAM and the Head of DSD, in conjunction with the Head of Information Services Delivery and Entrepreneurial Programs, be asked to explore the development of fee-based digitization and metadata consulting services for the UIUC community. Other North American research libraries, such as Cornell, MIT, and Harvard, have already begun to offer these kinds of services to their faculty and administrators. The current lack of a campus-wide digitization program at UIUC presents the Library with an opportunity to significantly enhance its presence on campus. This opportunity should be thoroughly investigated.

Although CAM will devote significant time to building a metadata support structure for the Library, its energies must also be actively directed at supporting Library-wide cataloging operations and maintaining/enhancing the integrity of the Voyager database. Fast and accurate access to the collections represented in the online catalog is one of the Library’s primary goals. For this reason, AST makes the following proposals.

To summarize, the proposed new CAM unit will be responsible for facilitating user access to the Library’s information resources by:

AST proposes a flexible and collaborative organizational structure for CAM under the leadership of the department head (the Head of CAM.) We recommend that the Head of CAM position be filled promptly by an internal re-appointment.

While AST does not wish to propose a detailed organization for CAM, we believe there are several key positions, and categories of positions, that should be delineated in our report. The following is a list of these positions and their responsibilities.

OPAC Records Coordinator (AST recommends this position be filled by an internal re-appointment.)

E-resource Librarian (AST recommends that the E-resource Librarian work jointly in CAM and Acquisitions/Collections, and report to the Head of Acquisitions for administrative purposes.)

Metadata Librarians (CAM Library Faculty)

AST expects the transition to the new content access infrastructure to occur over an extended period of time, perhaps one to two years, but recommends that the process begin as soon as possible after the proposals contained in this report are reviewed, modified if necessary, and accepted by the Library.

The first priority is for the University Librarian, in conjunction with the Library’s Executive Committee, to begin the process of filling the Head of CAM and OPAC Records Coordinator positions. With these positions filled, it will then be possible to move forward on other transition tasks.

The changes proposed by AST are significant. As part of the transition process, we recommend that the AUL for Collections, the AUL for IT Planning & Policy, and AUL for Services, the Head of CAM, and the Technical Services Division Coordinator meet at six-month intervals for the first two years to review the Library’s progress in migrating to the new organization and to assess the success of the new organization in meeting the Library’s goals for improved user access.

The following list of transition events is by no means all-inclusive, but gives a good sense of the scope of activities associated with moving into the new organization.